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ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2940
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State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By House Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Representatives R. Fisher, Wood, Prentice, Day, Paris and Nelson)
Read first time 02/07/92.
AN ACT Relating to land use patterns in transit plans; amending RCW 35.58.2795, 35.58.2796, 36.57A.070, and 36.57.070; and repealing RCW 36.57A.060.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 35.58.2795 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 17 s 60 are each amended to read as follows:
((By
April 1st of each year,)) (1) The legislative authority of each
municipality, as defined in RCW 35.58.272, shall prepare a six-year transit
development ((and financial program for that calendar year and the ensuing
five years)) plan. The plan shall establish the framework for the continued
development of transit services in the municipality, and shall be adopted and
submitted to the state department of transportation annually by June 1st of
each year, beginning in 1993. In addition, each municipality shall
concurrently file a copy of its transit development plan with the
transportation improvement board and cities, counties, and regional
transportation planning organizations within which the municipality is
located. The municipality shall conduct one or more public hearings each year
while developing its plan. The department of transportation shall ensure that
the plan for each municipality is current, and shall provide technical support
to such municipalities that may be lacking resources to complete the plans.
(2)
The ((program)) transit development plan shall be consistent with
the comprehensive plans adopted by counties, cities, and towns, pursuant to
chapter 35.63, 35A.63, or 36.70 RCW, the inherent authority of a first class
city or charter county derived from its charter, or chapter 36.70A RCW. ((The
program shall contain information as to how the municipality intends to meet
state and local long-range priorities for public transportation,)) The
plan shall address types of land use patterns in the service area, how those
patterns affect transit services, what coordination processes have been
developed with constituent city and county land use planning efforts, and how
transit service and land use compatibility can be enhanced. The types of land
use patterns identified by transit agencies as compatible with transit service
shall not be construed as requiring any city or county to change land use
designations in its comprehensive plan. The plan shall be coordinated and
consistent with the regional transportation plan.
(3) The plan shall address those state-wide transit goals, policies, and emphasis areas contained in the state transportation policy plan approved by the transportation commission, and when appropriate, adopted by the legislature.
(4)
The department of transportation in consultation with the affected
municipalities and the legislative transportation committee, shall determine
the format for the transit development plan. Each plan shall include an annual
element that describes the proposed activities of the municipality in the
current year. At minimum the plan shall address capital improvements,
significant operating changes planned for the system, and how the municipality
intends to fund program needs. ((Each municipality shall file the six-year
program with the state department of transportation, the transportation
improvement board, and cities, counties, and regional planning councils within
which the municipality is located.
In
developing its program, the municipality shall consider those policy recommendations
affecting public transportation contained in the state transportation policy
plan approved by the state transportation commission and, where appropriate,
adopted by the legislature. The municipality shall conduct one or more public
hearings while developing its program and for each annual update.))
Sec. 2. RCW 35.58.2796 and 1989 c 396 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
The department of transportation shall develop an annual report summarizing the
status of ((public transportation)) transit systems in the
state. By September 1st of each year, copies of the report shall be submitted
to the legislative transportation committee and to each municipality, as
defined in RCW 35.58.272, and to individual members of the municipality's
legislative authority. ((The department shall prepare and submit a
preliminary report by December 1, 1989.
To
assist the department with preparation of the report, each municipality shall
file a system report by April 1st of each year with the state department of
transportation identifying its public transportation services for the previous
calendar year and its objectives for improving the efficiency and effectiveness
of those services. The system report shall address those items required for
each public transportation system in the department's report.)) The
report shall also address the progress made toward meeting state-wide transit
goals, policies, and emphasis areas contained in the state transportation
policy plan approved by the transportation commission, and when appropriate,
adopted by the legislature.
(2)
The annual state report shall be derived by the department from the collective
transit development plans filed by each municipality as required by RCW
35.58.2795. The ((department)) report shall describe individual ((public
transportation)) transit systems, including contracted
transportation services and dial-a-ride services, and include a state-wide
summary of ((public transportation)) transit accomplishments,
issues, and data. The ((descriptions)) report shall
include the following elements and such other elements as the department deems
appropriate after consultation with the municipalities and the legislative
transportation committee:
(((1)))
(a) Equipment and facilities, including vehicle replacement standards;
(((2)))
(b) Services and service standards;
(((3)))
(c) Revenues, expenses, and ((ending balances, by fund source)) status
of reserve accounts;
(((4)))
(d) Policy issues and system improvement objectives, including community
participation in development of those objectives and how those objectives
address state-wide transportation priorities;
(((5)))
(e) Operating indicators applied to public transportation services,
revenues, and expenses. Operating indicators shall include operating cost per
passenger trip, operating cost per revenue vehicle service hour, passenger
trips per revenue service hour, passenger trips per vehicle service mile,
vehicle service hours per employee, and farebox revenue as a percent of
operating costs;
(f) Activities aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of transit services.
Sec. 3. RCW 36.57A.070 and 1985 c 6 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
The public transportation benefit area authority shall develop and adopt a
transit development plan under RCW 35.58.2795 for the area. The authority
shall submit the initial plan to the department of transportation for approval.
The ((comprehensive transit plan adopted by the authority)) initial
plan shall be reviewed by the ((state transportation commission)) department
to determine:
(((1)))
(a) The levels and completeness of transit service to be
((offered)) provided and the ((economic)) financial
viability of the ((transit system proposed in such comprehensive transit
plan)) authority to provide the services;
(((2)))
(b) Whether such plan integrates the proposed ((transportation system))
transit services with existing and planned transportation modes
and systems that serve the benefit area;
(((3)))
(c) Whether such plan coordinates that area's ((system and)) services
with nearby ((public)) transportation systems and addresses possible
future expansion of the benefit area or the consolidation of the benefit area
with other systems; and
(((4)))
(d) Whether such plan ((is eligible for matching state or federal
funds)) addresses state-wide goals, policies, and objectives set forth
in the state transit plan component of the state-wide transportation plan;
(2)
After reviewing the ((comprehensive transit)) initial transit
development plan, the ((state transportation commission shall have))
department has sixty days in which to approve such plan and to certify
to the state treasurer that such public transportation benefit area shall be
eligible to receive the motor vehicle excise tax proceeds authorized pursuant
to RCW 35.58.273, as now or hereafter amended in the manner prescribed by
chapter 82.44 RCW, as now or hereafter amended. ((To be approved a plan
shall provide for coordinated transportation planning, the integration of such
proposed transportation program with other transportation systems operating in
areas adjacent to, or in the vicinity of the proposed public transportation
benefit area, and be consistent with the public transportation coordination
criteria adopted pursuant to the urban mass transportation act of 1964 as
amended as of July 1, 1975. In the event such comprehensive)) The
department shall notify the authority in writing within thirty days as to the
approval of the plan, and shall notify the authority as to the time subsequent
transit development plans are required under RCW 35.58.2795. The time must be
no longer than eighteen months after the approval of the initial public transportation
development plan.
(3) If the plan is disapproved and ruled ineligible to receive motor vehicle tax proceeds, the state transportation commission shall provide written notice to the authority within thirty days as to the reasons for such plan's disapproval and such ineligibility. The authority may resubmit such plan upon reconsideration and correction of such deficiencies in the plan cited in such notice of disapproval.
Sec. 4. RCW 36.57.070 and 1974 ex.s. c 167 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
The
authority shall ((adopt a public transportation plan)) prepare a
six-year transit development plan as prescribed in RCW 36.57A.070. Such
plan shall be a general comprehensive plan designed to best serve the residents
of the entire county. Prior to adoption of the plan, the authority shall
provide a minimum of sixty days during which sufficient hearings shall be held
to provide interested persons an opportunity to participate in development of
the plan.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. RCW 36.57A.060 and 1975 1st ex.s. c 270 s 16 is repealed.